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Relativization Strategies in Earlier African American Vernacular English.
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Tottie, Gunnel; Rey, Michel – Language Variation and Change, 1997
Examines the system of relative markers in early African American English as documented in the Ex-Slave Recordings. Found a higher incidence of zero marking in adverbial than in nonadverbial relatives. The lack of "wh"-relatives found, as well as this frequency of zero subject relatives, is interpreted as evidence that African American…
Descriptors: Adverbs, Black Dialects, Data Analysis, Diachronic Linguistics
"Was/Were" Variation Across the Generations: View from the City of York.
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Tagliamonte, Sali – Language Variation and Change, 1998
Describes a new research project on York English, a variety in northeast England. Conducted a quantitative analysis of a linguistic feature that recurs pervasively in varieties of English worldwide--"was/were" variation in the past tense paradigm. (Author/ER)
Descriptors: Diachronic Linguistics, English, Foreign Countries, Language Variation
Negation and the History of African American English.
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Howe, Darin M. – Language Variation and Change, 1997
Describes the use of negation in three corpora representative of early to mid-19th-century African American English. The study examines the negative form "ain't," negative concord to indefinites and verbs, negative inversion and negative postposing. Findings reveal that the negation system of early African American English derived…
Descriptors: Black Dialects, Diachronic Linguistics, Dialect Studies, Negative Forms (Language)
A Peak at Death: Assessing Continuity and Change in an Underdocumented Language.
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Sabino, Robin – Language Variation and Change, 1996
Assesses phonological continuity and change in the last stage of the moribund dialect called "Negerhollands" in the Danish West Indies (DWI). The article contrasts earlier and current views of this dialect, sketches language contact in the DWI, examines the last speaker's language history and vowel systems, and assesses variation in a…
Descriptors: Black Dialects, Creoles, Diachronic Linguistics, Dialect Studies
Null Objects in English Recipes.
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Culy, Christopher – Language Variation and Change, 1996
Recipes exhibit a phenomenon nonexistent in other commonly studied varieties, (for example, conversational discourse), namely, zero anaphors as direct objects. This article examines this phenomenon and explores its consequences for linguistic theory. Results reveal that stylistic, semantic, and discourse factors are the most important in the…
Descriptors: English, Grammar, Language Usage, Language Variation
A Diachronic Study of Relative Markers in Spoken and Written English.
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Ball, Catherine N. – Language Variation and Change, 1996
Focuses on factors governing the choice of relative markers in restrictive relative clauses with relativized subjects from the 16th century to the present, using spoken and written data and including non-standard and regional varieties. The study addresses claims by Romaine (1982) that the "wh"-strategy has not affected spoken English,…
Descriptors: Change Agents, Diachronic Linguistics, English, Language Variation
Children, Adolescents, and Language Change.
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Kerswill, Paul – Language Variation and Change, 1996
Models the spread of linguistic change by taking account of the ages of the acquirers and transmitters of change. The article focuses on three interlocutor combinations: parent-infant/young child, peer group-preadolescent and older adolescent/adult-adolescent. Findings suggest that borrowings are the easiest to acquire, while lexically…
Descriptors: Adults, Age, Caregiver Speech, Change Agents